Texarkana, Texas Police Awards Officers and More!

There were many awards handed out Wednesday afternoon, January 22, 2020, to hard-working Texas-side Police Department employees, officers and detectives. Congratulations to all!

James Reed, our IT technician, was awarded the first-ever Civilian Award of Excellence. James' knowledge of electronics is without equal. Seemingly, no job is too big or too small for him to be able to handle, and he is always willing to go out of his way to help. Chief Schutte said that James does this "with a smile on his face and a humbleness not often seen".

Kathy Shuffield and Michelle Warren both received a Certificate of Appreciation for the extraordinary way that they do their jobs. Kathy is a property and evidence technician, and Michelle is an administrative coordinator in Investigative Services. Both are extremely self-motivated and an asset to our department.

Officer Daniel Linn was named the Officer of the Quarter. He was the primary officer dispatched to two aggravated robberies at convenience stores that happened within minutes of each other back in December. He developed information at the scene of the second robbery that allowed him to identify the getaway driver of both robberies and ultimately led to the arrest of the robber himself by detectives later.

Detectives Craig Buster and Cody Harris were called out to the scene of a shooting at an apartment complex in early November. Unfortunately, the victim died and they were now working a capital murder case with very little information to go on. A seemingly random tip from the public, however, turned out to be the turning point on the case. Through good old fashioned police work and outstanding interview skills, they were able to take the information from that tip to ultimately solve the case and make an arrest. For their hard work on this case, they both received a Certificate of Merit.

Detective Cliff Harris also was awarded a Certificate of Merit for his efforts in solving two armed robberies that wound up having been done by the same guy. Cliff worked from the ground up to identify the suspect, build a case, and then obtain a confession during an interview with him.

Officers Jonathan Price and Josh Bewley were awarded the Life Saving Award for their heroic actions at a house fire in December. When they arrived on the scene, the house was already completely engulfed in flames and people told them that the residents were still inside the house. Ignoring their own safety, they both went inside and found an elderly man and an 8-month-old little girl who were unconscious. Neither were breathing when they got them out of the house so they started CPR. Sadly, the man later died at the hospital but the little girl survived. We are also going to point out that this is not the first Life Saving Award for either of these officers.

Officer Dustin Johnson received a Certificate of Appreciation after his supervisors and fellow officers nominated him based on his outstanding work ethic. They described him as hard-working, self-motivated, and one who is always looking for something out of place.

According to the Press Release, please help us congratulate all of these outstanding employees for their awards and thank them for the great job that they do in our community every day.